Behind the lines: the important work underpinning the Schedule and Glossary

Ask most dentists about The Australian Schedule of Dental Services and Glossary (the Schedule) that guides their clinical work, and they will tell you it’s rarely out of sight. Ask them who creates and updates the Schedule, and they may not be as quick to answer. 

It’s a reflection of how effectively the ADA's Schedule and Third Party (STP) Committee does its job. The Committee's seamless work is largely invisible to the clinicians it serves, and that invisibility is precisely the point.

One of the many ADA Federal committees, the STP Committee administers the Schedule of Dental Services and Glossary on behalf of all practising dentists in Australia. 

In practical terms, that means writing, reviewing, and refining the item codes that describe every clinical service a dental practitioner provides, from a routine examination to complex surgical procedures. These codes are the shared language of the profession - used by dentists, specialists, oral health therapists, administrative teams, health funds, government agencies, and insurers alike.

Committee member Dr Amit Gurbaxani from Western Australia describes the role in straightforward terms: "The STP committee helps create a very clear, clinically relevant, concise description of item numbers, which are used on a daily basis by every single member of the dental team, whether it's a dentist, a specialist or an OHT." 

An ever-evolving resource

Under the guidance of STP Committee members, the Schedule is constantly being reviewed and updated so the profession can keep pace with clinical advances, member feedback and changes to best practice. Codes are added when new techniques and technologies emerge. Others are retired when they are no longer clinically relevant. And almost every word in every descriptor is deliberated over in detail.

Based in Coffs Harbour, Dr Scott Davis has served on the STP Committee for many years. He explains the scale of that ongoing task, saying, "We have questions every single day. and we talk to each other several times a week. We deliberate; we get expert input. It's a continuous process, 52 weeks of the year."

That rigour extends to every line of the document. As Dr Davis clarifies: "Every word is carefully thought through. Every item number exists for a very specific purpose. The perceived simplicity takes work, and it takes people who understand the importance of even a single word."

Creating a common language

The schedule exists to ensure a dental examination performed in Perth is documented and understood in exactly the same way as one performed in Hobart. It means every Australian can expect consistent quality of care, and to pay a similar fee, regardless of which dentist they visit.

Dr Gurbaxani explains what that consistency means at a practical level: "What you do in Perth has to be the same as what you do in Sydney. So, it gives that standardisation across the board. It's a common language that dentists speak."

In nations without a unified schedule, item descriptions may vary by insurer, by region, or by government body, creating administrative burden for clinicians and inequity for patients. The Schedule prevents that fragmentation here in Australia.

Dr Davis uses a sporting analogy to capture the principle: "A schedule is like having a rule book in a sport. Everyone knows what the rules are because they're consistent across all domains, all countries, all levels. That's what a schedule needs to be, a consistent descriptor of the services you provide in such a way that it's fair and equitable to health professionals, and the community we serve as well."

Dr Gurbaxani adds, "The schedule might sound very technically tedious or quite tricky, but at its core, it's about clinical intent. It's about fairness. It's about standardisation."

An invaluable asset

It is worth considering what Australian dentistry would look like without the Schedule or without a body committed to maintaining it. Dr Davis is direct about the consequences, saying, "If there was no ADA, health funds would want to write a Schedule of their own. Government would have their input. State and Commonwealth government never really talk to each other very much, so they'd have different ones. There would be military ones and DVA ones. It would be a disaster."

The Committee's volunteer members are all practising clinicians who give their time to prevent that outcome. Their reward is knowing that their work supports every member of the profession, and through them, every patient who sits in a dental chair in Australia.

Dr Davis reflects on the Committee's purpose: "The STP Committee is a group of people who work generally gratis for the interest of not only members, but the entire community. It means that we generate a book which is a fair rule book, which isn't biased for one group or another, but truly represents what we do in a way that is clear and understandable by everyone."

The ADA provides the infrastructure, administrative support and resources that make the Committee's work possible. That support is funded by the collective commitment of members across the country. Without members, and without the clinicians who give their time and expertise to be part of it, the Schedule would have no custodian, and the profession would have no common voice.